Year 2, Week 52, Day 1 Bible Reading Observations

Year 2, Week 52, Day 1

I have a brief observation for today’s reading of Revelation 9-11.

Today’s reading consists of three more chapters of Revelation. The Book of Revelation, which was written by the Apostle John to seven churches, serves as an unveiling from Jesus Christ about Jesus Christ as it pertains to matters concerning the end of time. The Book of Revelation reveals the plans and purposes of the Lord Jesus Christ with a view of encouraging suffering and struggling believers to persevere. Revelation 6-16 is a segment that depicts, primarily through a series of seals, trumpets, and bowls, the unleashing of God’s judgment, while also displaying the Lord’s preservation of His people. Revelation 9 continues the description of the seven trumpets of judgment, picking up on the fifth trumpet (and later the sixth trumpet): “And the fifth angel blew his trumpet, and I saw a star fallen from heaven to earth, and he was given the key to the shaft of the bottomless pit. He opened the shaft of the bottomless pit, and from the shaft rose smoke…Then from the smoke came locusts on the earth” (Revelation 9:1-3a). The fifth and sixth trumpets target their devastation upon humanity. Revelation 10 focuses on an angel sent from heaven to prophesy against the unrepentant before the seventh trumpet: “Then I saw another mighty angel coming down from heaven, wrapped in a cloud, with a rainbow over his head, and his face was like the sun, and his legs like pillars of fire…And I was told, “You must again prophesy about many peoples and nations and languages and kings” (Revelation 10:1,11). Revelation 11 describes the Temple of God, which could possible symbolize the Lord’s people, who were being persecuted: “Then I was given a measuring rod like a staff, and I was told, “Rise and measure the temple of God and the altar and those who worship there, but do not measure the court outside the temple; leave that out, for it is given over to the nations, and they will trample the holy city for forty-two months” (Revelation 11:1-2).

One of the things that struck me from today’s reading was the two witnesses who prophesy during the 1,260 days: “And I will grant authority to my two witnesses, and they will prophesy for 1,260 days, clothed in sackcloth.” These are the two olive trees and the two lampstands that stand before the Lord of the earth” (Revelation 11:3-4). The length to the prophetic ministry of the two witnesses is described with three measurements. The two witnesses declare their message for “forty-two months,” or “1,260 days,” or “three and a half days” (Revelation 11:9). These three descriptions refer to the same time period, which is possible the three-and-a-half year period spoken of by Daniel in reference to the first half of the seventieth week: “And he shall make a strong covenant with many for one week, and for half of the week he shall put an end to sacrifice and offering. And on the wing of abominations shall come one who makes desolate, until the decreed end is poured out on the desolator” (Daniel 9:27). The period in which the two witnesses prophesy is a period of intense persecution.

The two witnesses are often thought to be liken to Moses and Elijah in how the abilities that each of these men are noted for is described by John: “They have the power to shut the sky, that no rain may fall during the days of their prophesying, and they have power over the waters to turn them into blood and to strike the earth with every kind of plague, as often as they desire” (Revelation 11:6; see also 1 Kings 17:1; 2 Kings 1:9-12; Exodus 7-12). But the real significance of these two witnesses is the divine enablement that accompanies them. The imagery of “the two olive trees and the two lampstand” is reminiscent of the prophet Zechariah’s promise of the Lord’s provision for His people: “Then I said to him, “What are these two olive trees on the right and the left of the lampstand?” And a second time I answered and said to him, “What are these two branches of the olive trees, which are beside the two golden pipes from which the golden oil is poured out?” He said to me, “Do you not know what these are?” I said, “No, my lord.” Then he said, “These are the two anointed ones who stand by the Lord of the whole earth” (Zechariah 4:11-14). 

The two witnesses, not only have divine enablement, they are also afforded divine protection during the duration of their 1,260 days of ministry: “And if anyone would harm them, fire pours from their mouth and consumes their foes. If anyone would harm them, this is how he is doomed to be killed” (Revelation 11:5). And at the end of their “three and a half days,” their protection is removed: “And when they have finished their testimony, the beast that rises from the bottomless pit will make war on them and conquer them and kill them, and their dead bodies will lie in the street of the great city that symbolically is called Sodom and Egypt, where their Lord was crucified” (Revelation 11:7-8). The two witnesses are slain and left unburied for another “three and a half days.” But the Lord then raises them and summons them to heaven: “But after the three and a half days a breath of life from God entered them, and they stood up on their feet, and great fear fell on those who saw them. Then they heard a loud voice from heaven saying to them, “Come up here!” And they went up to heaven in a cloud, and their enemies watched them” (Revelation 11:11-12). Perhaps the point of all of this imagery is that the two witnesses symbolizes the whole church, and points out that those who belong to Lord will be empowered by the Spirit and protected by God to proclaim the gospel until their work is complete. Then upon their work’s completion, the Lord’s people are raised and brought into the Lord’s presence.

What struck you in today’s reading? What questions were prompted from today’s reading?

Pastor Joe